Book Review: 'Western Lane' By Chetna Maroo

Scrutinise these two sentences from the London-based author of Indian origin Chetna Maroo바카라�s 2023 Booker-shortlisted debut novel Western Lane: 바카라�The echo, which is the ball striking the wall of the court, is louder than the shot itself. This is what I hear when I remember the year after our mother died, and our father had us practising at Western Lane two, three, four hours a day.바카라�

These sentences offer much more than the setting, the everyday, and the coping mechanism grief-stricken people seem to develop after losing a loved one. They not only inform readers that they바카라�re entering a bereaved household but also signal that this family, too, is bereft of the tools to negotiate with loss. Because there바카라�s seldom a mechanism that can help you process something that you expect the least but know in your heart of hearts바카라�that what lives shall die too.

However, there바카라�s another thing that goes amiss during this process, the acknowledgment that those who die leave their marks바카라�that their memories survive. And that바카라�s all one has to latch on to, to perform grief, to let a tear trickle down their face unknowingly, to rejoice in the illusion as if the person hasn바카라�t gone anywhere, and, most importantly, to continue with life as if nothing has happened, which means entertaining the delusion that the person might even return.

Such is the scenario that becomes achingly familiar to a reader when they pay attention to this story narrated by an eleven-year-old squash player, Gopi, in this book. But it바카라�s the echo of loss that this narration is filled with. The youngest of three sisters바카라�the other two being Mona (15) and Khush (13)바카라�Gopi is the only one who trusts this 바카라�regime바카라� of playing squash that their father has perhaps inadvertently invented to deal with the death of his wife. A mere distraction. A distance from the reality that the family is collectively faced with. Soon, Western Lane becomes this Gujarati family바카라�s opportunity to deal with the life that lay ahead of them after the vacuum that the mother바카라�s death had created.

There바카라�s, however, a proposal that comes across this family via Uncle Pavan and Aunt Ranjan. They want to adopt one of the sisters. Something typical of a South Asian setting. What바카라�s atypical though is the marvellous beauty of this novel one can appreciate from this moment onwards. Be it its closely observed universe where the undercurrent is over-established effortlessly. Or be it the proximity one feels to the family as if they can bear witness to the family바카라�s innermost core바카라�their personal histories, their private moments, and the bonds they share. For example, here바카라�s what Uncle Pavan and his wife, Aunt Ranjan, try to notice in Gopi바카라�s father: 바카라�They were sorry for him, but they were also trying to get the measure of something and we knew it had to do with the space that had opened in front of him.바카라�

But a new opportunity had opened up for everyone, for someone had freed up space. This emptiness was obvious. A jarring appearance, an eyesore. These sisters soon 바카라�settled into new routines바카라� and, as often is the case, the eldest rises to the occasion by trying to mother her siblings and beginning to share the disappointments and register contempt for things on behalf of her mother. This transformation from a word that was a noun earlier to these siblings becomes a verb soon. Something that they had to actively do. This is not only striking but also a logical movement. The other two siblings couldn바카라�t help but notice this transformation: 바카라�Sometimes, we could feel the strain in her, the mental and physical burden of being something she was not.바카라�

Additionally, there are multiple references from the history of the game. This research, however, doesn바카라�t burden the narrative at all. In fact, it offers unique takeaways to our protagonist. And how meticulously this history is woven into the story signals the maturity of the writer. For example, Pakistani squash player Jahangir Khan, who바카라�s regarded as one of the finest players ever, is quoted multiple times. His brother Torsam Khan, who was also a squash player, had died at the age of 27 when Jahangir was very young (15). Apparently, it바카라�s grief which led the younger brother to continue with the sport with dogged determination as a tribute to his brother. There바카라�s a sentence in the book: 바카라�In each game, it바카라�s the same Jahangir, but not the same.바카라� While it바카라�s an observation sportsperson can relate to, it바카라�s also something closer to real life. Jahangir wanted to quit the sport but didn바카라�t. There바카라�s duality in your behaviour when you바카라�re suddenly faced with an eventuality like death, something that the sisters and the father face in this book.

While a cutesy teenage romance between Gopi and Ged blossoms in the book, one can바카라�t ignore the feeling of placeless-ness and listlessness regarding its characters as one sits through its pages which are populated with one gem of a sentence after another. Here바카라�s one example: 바카라�I kept my hand in Ged바카라�s and my shame was as big as the sky.바카라�

It almost becomes a purpose for the reader바카라�to get to know how Gopi will traverse this journey, face the hollowness that plagues her life, make sense of emptiness, and above all, play squash like she means business and nothing else. It바카라�s her indecisiveness as well that further motivates one, as if one were watching an interesting game reach its natural conclusion, almost as if one is hypnotised much like the narrator when she says, 바카라�Sometimes, you don바카라�t even know you are thinking.바카라�

This deft narrative, however, will unfold differently for each person, for grief opens up possibilities. Its takeaways are always subjective, but eventually, there바카라�s an objective reality that바카라�s there to be faced. As Joan Didion writes in Blue Nights바카라�a memoir of her daughter, Quintana Roo Dunne바카라�s death, 바카라�Time passes. Memory fades, memory adjusts, memory conforms to what we think we remember.바카라�

And this is what one can바카라�t help but notice in this remarkable novel. Something that the two-time winner of the National Book Award for Fiction American novelist and professor Jesmyn Ward notes in an interview with The Guardian: 바카라�Grief unmakes you바카라�you have to create a new version of yourself and your life.바카라�

Saurabh Sharma is a Delhi-based queer writer and freelance journalist

(This appeared in the print as 'Unmasking Grief')